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Many photographers of a certain age started with the Pentax K1000. I went a different route, and it’s different from even my preferred camera type today. I went with the Minolta Hi-Matic 7s, a fixed lens rangefinder from the 1960s. The Hi-Matic made things real; it was the first camera that was mine and the first good camera that I used. Before this, I used disposable cameras, like the point-and-shoot my parents had, and I still remember the 110 plastic camera I got at a McDonald’s event (at least, that’s what I think in my head-canon). While I would end up with a lot ofRead More →

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It’s taken me nearly three years, but I have now reviewed one hundred film cameras! Even though the review rules have slipped a couple times (namely review a sheet film camera and a pair of polaroids), so it’s only fair that I distil these one hundred cameras down into a few top five lists! Just note that there’s no particular order for these top five lists and certainly are my own personal opinions! Also of note, I’ve done my best to not double-dip, that means if a camera appears in one list, that means it won’t appear in any other list. Top Five 35mm SingleRead More →

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PYPS, Presbyterian Young People’s Society, Pick Your Potential Spouse. However you want to call it, yesterday I learned of some news that I never expected to receive. And while I have, like many before me, aged out and ultimately drifted away from the organization a friend whom I met through PYPS posted the following on Facebook. THE FUTURE OF PYPS Hello PYPS family, Recently the Synod of Central Northeastern Ontario and Bermuda had their annual meeting and decided to pull funding from our ministry. We felt that, in the face of declining attendance, the money that has been allotted to PYPS in the past couldRead More →

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If you have ever listened to my photography journey then you will have had heard of this particular camera, I am of course talking about the Minolta Hi-Matic 7s. While among the plethora of fixed lens rangefinders that flooded the market through the 1960s and 1970s it doesn’t stand out among some of the era’s heavy hitters, the Hi-Matic 7s is a sleeper of a camera. And for me, it holds the honour of being my first personal film camera a five-dollar purchase at a garage sale in 2002 it would be a near-constant companion until I got my first SLR. Still, it was aRead More →

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A watershed event for the Canadians during the Anglo-American War of 1812. The tiny town of York, today’s Toronto, Ontario, was the colonial capital of Upper Canada, established in 1793 by John Graves Simcoe for the sole purpose of being further away from the American frontier. Despite the town’s status as the capital it was poorly regarded called Muddy York, a far cry from the seat of British power in North America, Quebec City. And while the town itself was far from a tactical target, it wasn’t a tactical target that US Army commander, Henry Dearborn, wanted following a series of American defeats in 1812.Read More →